What Helped Me and My Family to Recover From Coronavirus

Karolina (my wife) and I have been living in Rishikesh since March 2020 where we have been focusing on learning and teaching yoga. My parents came and stayed with us for 5 to 6 months to escape the pollution and energy of Delhi and also learn some yoga. So when Karo and I decided to go to Delhi on 9th of April, 2021 to legally register our marriage and sort out our Visas; one of our greatest fears was getting stuck in Delhi. Even though I was born and brought up there, my parents house is in Delhi ~ it is one of my least favorite places (mainly because of the extreme pollution and energy). Well we were able to successfully get the marriage registered and halfway through to our visa processing when the 2nd wave of corona struck India. Before we could process what’s happening a lockdown was declared in Delhi and people all around us were falling sick, the hospitals were overwhelmed and suddenly the thing we have taken for granted our entire life Oxygen ~ everyone was crying for a lack of it – the people, the Hospitals, the Governments. A cloud of fear had gripped the city and everyone locked themselves in. Our worst fears had just come alive – being stuck in Delhi in the midst of the pandemic.

Few days into the lockdown my Mom came down with a fever. Both my mom and Dad had been vaccinated and we were under the impression that it’s just a reaction to the 2nd shot of the vaccine. However soon after Karo came down with fever and then I and after a few days my Dad. Now my Mom’s fever wasn’t above 100 and she recovered pretty fast (Couple of days of fever with a few days of joint pains; she did suffer from a sore throat for almost a week). To this day she maintains that she didn’t have corona; it was just a reaction of the vaccine.

My personal experience with the disease was different. Both Karo and me haven’t been vaccinated and initially we thought it’s just a sore throat; and even if it is corona we are healthy yogic lifestyle people and it won’t have much impact on us. The sore throat soon turned into fever (3 days touching 101). I hate taking medication unless it’s an emergency so I was able to manage my three days of fever without any medication. I just took plenty of rest, water and minimized my food intake and let the body deal with it. On the 4th or 5th day my fever was gone but i noticed that my sense of smell was totally gone. I was having trouble deep breathing; just to breathe even a bit from the chest was causing me coughs and slight pain in the chest. I realized that my lungs were impacted and it was not just a normal fever but corona. When I tried to get a test ~ it was unavailable to do the test at home as the labs were overwhelmed and we did not want to go outside. We just decided to lock ourselves in the house and pray that we don’t need to go to a hospital (there was chaos in the Hospitals of Delhi at that time). Once the fever let up – I thought that’s it, now I am done and soon going to be okay, but it was a slow road to recovery. I had internal body pains and a lack of energy for almost the next 7 to 10 days. And the most challenging bit was the impact on the mind – once the fever subsided the mind went full monkey; fears and thoughts of all kinds kept coming to the mind.

In entire Delhi with every friend and family we talked there was news of the virus spreading in each household and even Deaths in our extended family and neighborhood. While all this was happening with me, Karo’s fever was not coming down and my Dad also started exhibiting symptoms. She experienced fever for almost a week and it was constantly at 102~103 levels. Luckily her blood oxygen was manageable and she recovered from the fever after about 7 to 8 days. She did not want to but took paracetamol once the fever reached 103 levels. She also suffered from abdominal pains and was able to intake only rice water and electrolytes for a few days. Soon after the recovery started and it was a couple of weeks afterwards that we were able to reach full health.

Now my Dad already has a weaker system – recovering from a couple of strokes, high BP and a host of mental and emotional imbalances, the virus struck him the hardest. High fever, dropping blood Oxygen levels, high levels of anxiety and deteriorating health conditions had us really worried. Then he stopped eating altogether and the situation became alarming. At one point of time I had almost given up hope and feared for the worst. However after almost 4 to 5 days of not eating or drinking anything he slowly started recovering and after 3 weeks now he is able to eat, drink and even start to walk around. He has even begun to attend our evening yoga practice and I believe he will be back to full health and start his homeopathy clinic soon.

Things that helped: Please note that each immune system and body is different and what helped me may not help everyone.

Supplements: Multi vitamins, Chawanprash (Kottakkal), Gargle with Salt, Steam, herbal tea (cinamon, tulsi, ginger, cloves and honey).

Homeopathy Medicine: We were having Arsenic 200, Eupatorium 200 and Kali Bitch 200 three to four times a day. Once the fever had come down we were also having Vita-C tonic (a fusion of different homeopathic medicines).

Lockdown: This helped in reducing the pollution levels and all the construction work which was going on in our neighborhood. It is also helping in getting the situation to manageable levels in the city and has stopped the spike in new cases (keeping fingers crossed).

Oxygen: When my Dad’s oxygen level went to 92 on the oximeter we tried to get him to walk and sit on the rooftop nearby plants. This did helped and his blood oxygen would come back to 94/95. We even kept a Tulsi plant inside at night time near his bed (Tulsi releases oxygen even at night times).

Yoga: Once we recovered a bit we started Yoga Therapy sessions daily online. This helped a lot ~ basic joint movements, Yogic Breathing (3 minutes), Alternate nostril Breathing (3 minutes) followed by slow AUM chanting (15 ~ 20 minutes) ~ Special thank to our teacher and Guru from Rishikesh for giving us guidance and blessings. Below is a tutorial on how to do Yogic Breathing. You can join our Free community classes or join the Weekend Yoga Program to learn more from us.